Trigonometric expressions in terms of

square roots
David McNaughton

Note that the square root symbol is unfortunately rendered as Ö in Linux

The well-known trigonometric values which can be written using square roots are of
course:
sin 45º = 1/√2
sin 60º = √3/2 and
tan 60º = √3
along with others which are closely related
(remembering too that sin 30º = ½)

Maths textbooks will sometimes also mention that

sin 75º = (√3+1) / 2√2 and
sin 15º = (√3-1) / 2√2
because these can easily be derived by expanding sin (45±30)
- as (sin 45 . cos 30 ± cos 45 . sin 30).

More concise are

tan 15º = 2 - √3 and
sec 15º = √6 - √2

Multiples of 18 degrees
Less widely known are
sin 18º = cos 72º = (√5 -1) / 4 and
sin 54º = cos 36º = (√5+ 1) / 4

How can we demonstrate these?

If for instance θ = 1 8 º, then sin 3θ = cos 2θ .
Letting y = sin θ , and using standard formulae to expand that last equation gives
4y³ - 2y² -3y + 1 = 0.

Dividing out the unwanted solution for y=1 (i.e. for θ = 90 º), leaves
4y² + 2y - 1 = 0
leading to y = (-1 ± √5) / 4.
Other identities involving multiples of 18º may of course be evaluated using Pythagoras's
theorem, but they turn out to be clumsier, e.g.
cos 18º = √ (5 +√5 ) / 2√2 and
tan 72º = √ (5 + 2√5 )

Other angles
Multiples of angles as small as 3º can of course be tackled
by expanding combinations such as sin (18-15).

And halved quantities are easily dealt with using formulae

like cos 2θ = 1 - 2sin²θ . In this way we find for example that
sin 22½º = ½√ (2 - √2 ) and
tan 22½º = √2 - 1

Indeed, there is no limit to the extent to which we can indefinitely keep halving angles
like that, although the expressions will become progressively clumsier.

Multiples of 10 degrees
If we can find a way of computing quantities like sin 10º and sin 20º in terms of surds,
then it would obviously be possible to extend them to trigonometric functions of any
integral number of degrees (and indeed half-degrees, quarter-degrees, etc.) ...
... for example by working on sin (20-18).

By considering 30 as (10 + 10 + 10) and applying standard trig. formulae,

we can show that sin 10º (abbreviated here as "t") is one of the roots of the equation
8t³ - 6t + 1 = 0 ... <1>
There are also two other quantities which satisfy it, namely sin 50º and sin (-70º).

Cardano's algorithm enables the evaluation of cubic equations like this one. If indeed it is
possible to write the answers as surds, then these would probably comprise a horrendous
mixture of cube and higher roots. (Nevertheless, see the "curiosities" mentioned below).

Incidentally, it was the quest for a solution to cubic equations which first persuaded 16th
century mathematicians to take seriously the square root of minus one (written as "i", or
occasionally as "j"). Even when all three answers are real, it is usually necessary during
the manipulation process to work with i-values (which get eliminated later).
Accordingly, when attempting to solve the above equation for sin 10º, I was faced with
the task of finding
the cube root of (√3i/2 - ½), which is of course
cos 40º + i.sin 40º (along with other possible values) - but unfortunately the surds have
now become lost. In other words, the calculations would certainly have produced correct
answers, but of no help in the context of this essay.

Some unsuccessful attempts to express sin(10) in terms of cube roots and square roots are
discussed in http://dlmcn.com/sin10-surd.html

It has been suggested that the ancient Babylonian mathematicians divided the circle into
360 degrees because that figure was close to the number of days in a year. However, if
instead they had decided on (say) 240, or 480 angular parts, then few people would have
bothered to search for surd-expressions of sines and cosines of the equivalent of our ten
degrees, and one degree; perhaps then they would never have stumbled upon the
"curiosities" in the next section! Indeed, this is why (in the next section) I deliberately
searched for a couple of expressions involving multiples of π / 7 radians.

A few curiosities
tan²20º + tan²40º + tan²80º = 33
tan 20º . tan 40º . tan 80º = √3

And if α represents π / 7 radians, i.e. 25.7142857º...,

tan α . tan 2α . tan 3α = √7
tan²α + tan²2α + tan²3α = 21

Expressions like these are deduced from equations whose roots are the terms (like those
above) being multiplied or added. The key therefore lies in inspecting the coefficients in
the original equation - because some of them are of course equal to the sum or product of
the roots.

In the previous section, for example, we could have noticed that:

8.sin 10º . sin 50º . sin 70º = 1
and even more thought-provoking:
sin 10º + sin 50º = sin 70º... <2> ... because this will be the clue for solving the
geometry problem in Figure 1 below, which would probably be difficult using
conventional techniques.

Also intriguing are

sin²36º + sin²72º = 1¼
sin 20º + sin 40º = sin 80º .... <3>
sin 15º + sin 45º = sin 75º .... <4>
This last identity <4> can of course be confirmed using the known surd expressions for
the angles concerned. Furthermore, it could be used to construct another diagram like
Figure 1 (still having to prove AQ equal to CP) , but with angles of 30º, 30º and 15º
replacing the 20º, 40º and 10º. Because of its symmetry, this alternative problem could
probably be solved and verified geometrically.

Expressions <2>, <3> and <4> could have been deduced using the standard trigonometric
formula
sin(C) + sin(D) = 2.sin(C/2 + D/2).cos(C/2 - D/2)

And they all follow the pattern

sin(y) + sin(60º - y) = sin(60º + y) - which is of course obvious just by expanding the
terms.

Another family of identities may be defined by

sin(45º + y) - sin(45º - y) = √2sin(y)
- producing for example
sin(50º) - sin(40º) = √ 2sin(5º)
together with an infinite number of others.